Riley ga, actually, she doesn't Kill, Maybe
by khazit
Summary: Ward/AgK crossover. After the event of Pitch 6.9, our Good girl and [spoiler] ended up in the world of AgK right at the end of chapter 33 of the manga, and decided to play Doctor. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

I guess I'll just post it here.

Will continue my other fic soon-ish (tm).

Edit: just notice the linebreaks got fucked by formatting. Edited.

1.0

He felt empty.

He had known that it was always a possibility. A possibility all too real after the deaths of his comrades. Yet, it hurt all the same.

He could feel his idealistic side shattered a little more. How it had started out strong and determined, and how it was being chipped away with each and every loss. How he could see that happening and yet unable to stop.

How he knew that yet again, he failed.

It was inevitable, really, the task that he had taken upon himself was an impossible one. That they all had prepared to make the final sacrifice.

Yet, it still hurt.

He hated the Jaegers for killing her, even though his own team would have done the same – it was a war, after all. He hated that they had to put her here. And he hated it even more that he couldn't retrieve her to put her to rest. She deserved better than that.

So he just sat there, invisible to all, his knees failed to find the strength to stand up. He just needed a few minutes to compose himself, he knew. No matter what, they must push through, to put an end to the rotten Empire, to make sure no one had to die anymore.

Then, the sky and the Earth opened with a blinding flash of light, day and night jumped back and forth as space and time distorted and twisted, and he thought he could see glimpses of alien skies.

And he saw two people stumble out near the center of the fleeing crowd. Various strange objects and vials scattered around them. The older woman fell down, slowly shaking her head as she tried to get up.

The other person, however, caught his attention. She was young, around her early teenage years, with curly blonde hair in a ponytail and wearing a grey shirt. Unlike the woman, the girl immediately became alerted, and after taking a look at her surroundings, she fixated on the head on the spike, and spoke aloud in a strange accent he had never heard before.

"Friendly neighborhood, huh?"

* * *

"Are you O~kay, Doc?", she asked the woman with a singsong voice, who was currently in the process of sitting up. She'd offer her a hand, had she not been busy mixing whatever she could find from the scattered remains of her lab to prepare for the probably unavoidable encounter with the local authority.

Glancing back at the head, Riley had serious doubt that they would be terribly friendly or understanding.

"Where… where are we?"

"Somewhere in the multiverse. I dunno. Probably the attack that made all the ruckus earlier." She paused to take a sip from one of the vials. The purple liquid tasted of despair and dried eyeball. Hmm, it would do. "Didn't expect it to reach all the way to the headquarters, though. You're Valkyrie's therapist, right?"

"Yes, and you're Riley." A statement, not a question. "You can call me Jessica. Do you know where the other are?"

The blonde just shrugged. "Probably everywhere in the multiverse, and if they're lucky, each of them in _just_ one universe. We just got lumped together by chance."

The doctor finally stood up, and looked around. The square they landed themselves in was deserted by now. The crowd from earlier had made a quick escape from the scene.

All that remained, of course, was the head of the young redhead on the spike.

Admittedly, she had met with killers - killers with a _massive_ kill counts on a daily basic. But witnessing violence first-hand was not something she's used to. Such casual display of brutality still made her kind of uneasy. _The locals don't seems very… civilized,_ she thought.

"Hey doc. Need a hand here." Riley grinned. "Get the tank over there, throw the heart out and put her in," the teenager moved her head to indicate first the nearby glass container full of suspiciously bubbling black liquid (and, apparently, a heart), then to the decapitated head.

"Why? What would you do with _that?_ And it's too far up! _"_

"Well, she's still pretty fresh. I can try to revive whatever I can. Because we'd need information and I'd rather not stick around for an authority who would do _that._ Don't worry about the height, I have some acid here, we can cut the spike down."

"Plus it just wouldn't be nice to leave her there, don't you think?"

 _Well,_ the therapist thought, the (ex)-serial killer had a point. And while enabling her behaviors may have a negative effect on her recovery, listening to the one with superpower in situations like this seemed like the best chance for both of them to make it out alive.

So the doctor got to work. The tank was around fifteen feet away, so she briskly walked toward it. It was a tube about a size of an office fishbowl. The kind of fishbowl that would look real neat in a corner of a worktable, but was small enough that most experts would advise against if you want to keep your aquatic pet happy and healthy. It had a latch on the top, which she popped open…

"Just reach inside, find the heart and toss it out. The liquid is safe."

Jessica gulped and reached inside with her right hand. The liquid felt cold to the touch but was surprisingly light, and almost instantly she could feel the fleshy texture of the heart. Picking it up within her hand, she gently put it aside, then lifting the tank up, she made her way toward the head, and noticed that her hands were shaking.

 _Calm down, Jessica, you've survived the end of the world. You've been in the same room with people who can end you with a thought countless times. This should be just another day working with parahumans._ She tried to reassure herself.  
And even without her training, she could still tell that it was not very effective.

To the side, Riley had finished whatever it was she was doing, and she spoke as she made her way toward the spike, a bottle in hand.

The girl reached the base as Jessica got close, and she gestured Jessica to put down the tank and come closer. She did. Riley applied the contend of the tube to the base of the spike, which then sizzled violently.

"Here, lower it slowly so I can get the head."

The spike was around five meter tall, but thin and was not too heavy. Jessica grabbed onto it and tried her best to not drop it too fast, until Riley could reach up and grab the head. She walked back to the tank, put it in and began to close up the latch.

Before she could finish, from the corner of her eye, Jessica noticed that the air around her simmered, and suddenly, a huge brute in some kind of armor appeared, his face concealed with a finned helmet, and he spoke.

"Who are you and what do you mean by 'reviving' that head?"

* * *

"Depend. Did a golden man show up two years ago and destroy half the world?", the blonde asked, in the most matter-of-fact tone possible.

The sheer ridiculousness and seemingly irrelevancy of the question almost made him blurt out a "What" in response.

However, he noticed that as she spoke, she carefully shifted the vial in her hand to a position more suitable for throwing. It didn't look like something that could threaten a teigu user like him, but better be careful, Tatsumi decided. So he focused on her before answering.

"No?"

The girl narrowed her brows, seemingly deep in thought for just a moment, mumbling something that sounded a lot like "Interesting", then she forced out the fakest sweet-smile he had ever seen.

"In that case, we're just travelers from a faraway land, who mean no trouble. Just let us pack our things and we'll get out of your hair."

Then, the smile changed into a much more convincing, toothy grin, the kind of grins that promised pain and suffering.

Well, those, he could deal with. After all, he had experience.

"Or we will both regret our decisions."

"And what are you going to do with her head?"

"'Her'?" The older woman spoke for the first times since he appeared. "Was she your friend, perhaps?" He could tell that her voice was shaking, but she had made a commendable effort in hiding it.

"Yes, she was." Tatsumi paused. There was this lump in his throat again at the mention of Chelsea. He swallowed hard, and continued: "So I want to know what you are planning."

The girl, 'Riley', he reminded himself, spoke again. "Let's just say that I have a talent for putting people back together. Can we get something in return for helping the lady out?"

He could feel his heart speeding up. Did she mean bringing back the dead? But it was impossible. Not even the power of the Teigu could do that.

Were they just trying to trick him? Agents of the Empire trying to make him give up their secret in exchange for a false promise? Or was she just crazy?

He didn't miss the worrying look the doctor shot Riley.

But then, what about the flash of light from earlier? It couldn't just be some kind of fancy flashbang to conceal their real entrance.

After all, he _knew_ he saw reality shattered for a moment before reasserting itself.

"Who are you and where are you from, _really_ ?" He lowered his voice and tried to muster as much seriousness as he could into the question, and was rewarded with both of the women flinching.

The older one, 'Jessica', he mentally noted, composed herself, looked him straight in the eyes and answered.

"Would you believe me if I say that we're from another world?"

Before he could process the information, he heard shouting, and the sound of guns being chambered.

Aw crap.

Even with the Jaegers having left the town, fighting his way out of here would have been hard enough without having to worry about the two mysterious strangers.

Or so he thought, as Riley tossed the vial she had been holding straight up.

The armored behemoth followed the small glass tube as it soared through the air, the green-ish liquid inside spilled out and immediately vaporized into a greenish faint cloud.

And it was windy that day.

Seconds passed, and the first of the Empire troops got close enough, and they instantly fell to their knees. The ones behind had just a moment to show their surprise before they, too, suffered the same fate.

The ones far back began unloading their guns. The bullets would just ping off his armor, but the women...

He tried to rush to the two to shield them, but to his horror, his legs felt numb, and he could only watch as some bullets found their marks. One of them hit the older one in the stomach, the other tore through the left side of the girl's neck.

To his greater horror, the girl simply ducked low and made a rush toward him, and then she very unceremoniously stabbed him in the exposed part of his face with a syringe.

Her wound didn't even bleed.

He felt the numbness quickly receded, and it seemed like the paralyzer had reached the backline, too, as the gunshot was quickly silenced.

The girl said:

"Don't worry about me or the doc. I can patch us both up. _Now_ can you get us somewhere less noisy to discuss matters?"

* * *

Tatsumi stared silently as the girl worked her... magic, or whatever unholy sorcery it was on the doctor. He had some experience with tending to wounds, his career was one that usually lead to lots and lots of them. And he still couldn't understand what she was doing. Using the strange devices she brought and some random plants and mushrooms she found in the forest they were resting in after the escapade, the mad tinker had brought the doctor – who he was sure was on the brink of bleeding out, back to consciousness. She looked pale, but otherwise seems healthy enough.

God, he felt so tired. Picking the both of them, along with Chelsea's head-in-a-tank, up and dash out of town had exhausted him.

Tired enough that he had questioned himself if he was mishearing their story.

"So... you two are from another world. That there are a whole lot of those out there, and you have the power to fix the body, and she has the power to fix the mind?"

"No, just _I_ have power. She's just a regular therapist."

"And a therapist is...?"

"Someone who'd take your money and listen to your problems and help you work through them. It's actually more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it."

"And you can bring back the dead?" He could feel his voice tremble as he spoke those words.

A part of him was skeptical. That even if all the scholars and scientists from the Age of the first King, the wise men and women who were capable of creating such powerful tools as the Teigu couldn't do it, how could a little girl who hadn't even hit puberty do that?

Another part, however, wanted nothing more than for it to be true. That he could bring them all back. Sheele, Bulat, Sayo, Ieyasu.

 _Chelsea,_ he looked at the tube to his left side. _Can you really do it?_

The girl slowly rubbed her chin, and after a moment of consideration, she answered. "Well, depend on _how_ dead. Little lady over there should still have her brain mostly intact. I can work with that."

His heart dropped with those words.

"I mean, I can clone the ones _without_ a brain, too, just need some tissue. But they just wouldn't be the same, you know? Getting the personality _right_ all the way is practically impossible. Hey, are you listening?"

No, he decided. Whatever happened, even if she could only bring one of them back, it would be worth it.

So, Tatsumi said:

"What do you want in exchange for that, then?"

* * *

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"How did you paralyze him? Icursio should've protected him from poison."

Akame looked at the young girl, who was skipping along the way, poking at every plant and critter, and occasionally picking them up and putting into her bag.

She had been worried when Tatsumi didn't come back after an hour.

And she had sneaked into the town by herself to the eerie noise and (mildly) disturbing sight of people laid moaning on the ground, with no sight of him or Chelsea.

When she returned to their hiding spot, however, he was there waiting for her, with two strangers nearby.

One of them was sitting down on a rock, she wore a black skirt and a white long-sleeve shirt. The shirt was torn, and there was blood splattered on it. On the exposed skin of her stomach, there was a blackish patch covering what she suspected to be a wound. The woman looked around thirty, with short brown hair and glasses.

The other, younger one was happily chewing down a red mushroom, a mushroom which she also suspected to be poisonous. She, too, had blood over her grey sweater, but it didn't seem like to be hers. At her feet, there was a small pile of similar looking plants.

And Chelsea's head in a tank.

She didn't spot it immediately - the liquid was dark. But there was no mistaking, she could recognize that headband everywhere. Her head was immersed in the water, the hair floating gently around in the liquid.

It was what she expected, knowing Kurome. But it still felt like an iron glove reached inside her stomach and tried to crush it.

She squashed that feeling aside immediately. There was no time for such emotions now.

Akame would mourn her comrade later. She would cry for them, and she would commit to remember everything she could about them, to make sure that they were not forgotten.

Or she would have, if Tatsumi didn't tell her, his voice hard and uncertain:

"I have something to tell you..."

 _"_ _Impossible! A Teigu that can bring back the dead doesn't exist!"_

 _"_ _Well, do I look like one of these Teigu things?"_

"So it's not really a poison. It's a highly adaptive virus that can paralyze anything with a nervous system in seconds. Will wear out fast, though. I'm not allowed to make anything too strong."

"And those weapon of yours. They're surely interesting, huh?"

The girl had moved closer to her, and got dangerously close to poking Murasame. She stopped her.

"Don't touch the blade. A single cut will stop your heart."

Riley made a "tsk" sound and stepped back. She didn't seem to be concerned with the prospect of potentially dying. In fact, she added:

"I have doubt that whatever poison you got there can affect me. And even if it can, while working without a heart is inconvenient, I can fix it."

"After all, I'm going to bring your friend back, what is a missing heart compared to a missing body?"

A little distance behind the two girls, the boy and the doctor walked side by side. He was holding the tank, trying his best to not think about what's inside, while she kept asking him about his country, his friends, and his world. He answered them as best as he could, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she was carefully dissecting his very soul.

Tatsumi noticed, however, not a single moment had the Woman's eyes wandered away from Riley.


	2. Chapter 2

1.1: Kill Death itself.

Eighteenth-century technology sucked, she thought.

If this... unholy mess of a tech base could even be counted at that.

There was no electricity, no electronic whatever, measurement instruments were crude and inaccurate, no readily accessible chemicals, and they didn't even have indoor plumbing at the base! (No thanks, she'd rather invent a bacterium that eats grimes than taking a bath outdoors - which she did.)

And what kind of divergent in history that could even lead to humans having natural pink hair?

The food was good, though. Even if the ingredients were weird.

At least Night Raid was willing to provide her with whatever she needed. Especially after she fixed up the arms for their brute woman.

The woman who was, at that very moment, sitting in a corner of the room, spotting a big grin on her face and a mug of beer in her hand.

She had shining blond hair, a tall, muscular body, and an impressive set of assets that she made no effort to hide with her outfit.

"You did a much better job than Lubbock, I must say."

"That's just my shtick." She said with a tired smile. The lighting condition was hardly optimal, and the magnifying spectacles they were able to find were not one of those nice modern ones. They were bulky and heavy and tuning them was a pain.

"Could you let me focus? Restoring a damaged brain is difficult, you know?"

"Sorry, sorry. It's just so boring here."

 _Hey, nobody asked you bandits to feel the need to keep an eye on me_ , she thought.

"Anyway, thanks for trusting me to work on you."

"That's no problem. Lubbock can always fix it if you messed up, I'm tough, you know? And it's a good chance for us to test your ability."

The woman leaned back into her chair again and took another sip from her mug, content to watch Riley working.

"You know what, I'll take you out to visit the town, buy you whatever you want if you can actually bring her back."

"Don't doubt me." She answered. "But remember that she wouldn't be totally the same, severe case of brain death and all."

"Yeah, yeah. You told us that many times already. That would still beat out being dead! I'm sure Chelsea would agree."

 _Heh. If only people actually thought like that._ She thought about the Damsel clones and snorted. _I hope doc will be up for some therapy. I can see the identity crisis coming from here._

 _Or I can put her under my control. It would be easy. I can get her to act on my commands, and we would get an Ace in the hole in case we need to make an escape._

No, bad Riley, bad! She chided herself.

Not like she trusted them, of course. But doing that would be a step back. And she didn't need those. Not when the circumstances were almost _inviting_ her to.

And in the worst case scenario, she still had a Trump card...

...

 _"_ _Do you trust them, doc?"_

 _"_ _Not really." The woman paused. "From what they said, they're basically rebel terrorists. We may not have the best first impression with the Empire, but it's easy to get the wrong picture from hearing only one side of the story. And even if the Empire is as bad as they describe, there's no telling if the rebels will be better."_

 _"_ _Well, looks like it may be too late to change sides for now. They didn't shoot at us, that's a plus for me."_

 _"_ _And you know what, doc? Gimel would come to find me eventually. I'm both too much an asset and an issue to ignore. And since they have a planet full of people, with experienced workers and infrastructure ready, making one side indebted to us may help everybody out."_

 _"_ _I hope that you think this through carefully, Riley, and not just clinging to them because they remind you of your past."_

 _..._

Riley glanced at the blond brute. That big, stupid grin was still on her face.

She's a lot more jovial than Ned, at least.

 _But it doesn't mean anything, does it? They are still a group of murderers._

No, as far as she could tell, they didn't engage in wanton killing like the Nine, like _she,_ did. Totally different.  
Yet, they're still killers.

She thought about the incident with the sharp tip inside Ashley's arm. _Maybe old habits do die hard, after all._

So Riley soldered on with her work. Hoping that this times, there wouldn't be any innocent's blood on her hands.

Though, if she was totally honest, that didn't bother her as much as she knew it should...

* * *

"...tive should ...ing off now."

 _Noise._

 _So much noise._

 _No, not noise. Sound. Voices._

 _Human voices._

 _Did she understand that?_

"Everybody stays calm! No sudden noise or movement. And remember, take your turn, don't rush in all at once. And absolutely no touching!"

 _A... girl's voice? What was she saying?_

"You heard the doc! Go, you first, Mine!"

 _A... familiar voice. She had a vague feeling that she had heard that before._

 _A memory of black and white. Of something... mechanical?_

 _The name, they mentioned a name. Mine. It, too sounded familiar._

 _Something... colorful? Noisy? Yet... adorable?_

"Hey, can you hear me now? Do you understand?"

 _She knew she should nod. That would be the correct response to such an... order? Request? Query?_

 _That last word sounded right._

 _But, the thought didn't come up quite right. It felt more like avoice was whispering to her, explaining to her the meaning of the words, a delay, an extra step taken to make things to make sense to her._

 _At least, she understood. And so she tried to move her neck. The motion, too, felt disconnected. Unnatural, stiff._

"You nodded? So you understand me, right? Do you remember me?"

 _Slowly, she tried to open her eyes. They, too, felt less like seeing and more like having someone describing what they were seeing to her._

 _But she saw her. A person, with pink hair shaped into two tails at the sides of her head. It was long. She wore white, a kind of clothing that was form-fitting on top and extended out at the bottom._

 _She was aware of the fact that she should have known what it's called._

 _The girl's look brought forth fragments. Memories of them meeting, of laughter and jokes, of worries._

 _Of stealing her food?_

 _"_ _Mine?" She spoke. The air escaped her mouth and formed the sound. But the sound didn't sound like hers. It was mechanical._

 _At least she could talk._

"Yes, it's me, Mine. Do you remember your name?"

 _She saw water forming around Mine's eyes. Tears – something at the back of her mind told her. Mine was crying, she was not happy._

 _That thought made her unhappy, too._

 _And her name. Her name. She should know it, right?_

 _"_ _Chelsea." Yeah, that sounded right._

"Do you know who we are?"

 _"_ _Night Raid." The word came out before she fully realized what it meant._

 _She remembered some of it now. Rebellion, revenge. A burning building, screams, and pain. She had her revenge, hadn't she? She had killed someone. The fire man._

 _Him, and a lot many more before him. Most of them were just fragments, patches of memories that barely made any sense, but she remembered._

 _Not the fire man, however. He stood out, she could see his visage, his masked face, his flame spewer,_

 _She also remembered the boy. Kind, warm. Idealistic. What's his name again?_

"How... how do you feel?"

 _She heard the stops in Mine's voice. She was openly bawling now._

 _Such a crybaby, huh?_

 _"_ _Fine enough, I think."_

 _..._

* * *

 _A day before that..._

"So what are you going to do, exactly?"

She took another puff from her cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke before asking. The girl made a face of disgust at the smell.

From someone who had no issue with running around with a decapitated head, that was unexpected.

"I'll take an approach to focus more on preservation and restoration of what's left first, rather than functionality. Reviving the parts that hold memories and personality, grow new tissues to handle the other functions like senses and communication and orientation, using her own DNA to minimize the differences. And artificial parts to mimic basic bodily functions, since I need the materials to grow an entirely new body."

"And how long will it take?"

"Probably a day or two before she's ready to be awaken. After that months, maybe even years for her brain to adapt to the new parts and fill in the blanks in her memories. Meeting people, seeing places and objects she knew for a long time could help. So is getting into old routines."

"Can we move her in that state?"

"Of course we can, but why?"

"We have an important job to complete, doc." The commander of Night Raid said. "We'll need to move soon. And to be frank, I don't trust you two enough to leave you alone with Chelsea and our base. So either you come along or we need to ask high command to send someone to watch over you. And time is essential for us. Plus, the base where's we're moving to has better support, and I may be able to arrange for the things you need there."

The girl instantly beamed up in a slightly-horrifying way. "Then let me get to work right away! Just keep your word, and I won't disappoint."

"I hope so too, Riley." Najenda allowed a dangerous edge to sneak into her voice. "If you mess with us on our fallen comrade, we'll make sure you pay for it." She leaned forward, and clasped her hands together, presenting the mechanical one in the process. A deliberate showing of her weapon.

"And I expect no less, too, Miss Commander." The mad doctor lowered her voice to match Najenda's tone. "It's a pleasure to work with you. I'm looking forward to studying these 'Teigu'."

* * *

Over the course of her... admittedly rather colorful career, she had met with many weird cases. People were complex enough on their own, adding powers to the mix never made it any less so.

Being thrown into another world, getting shot, getting patched up by the ex-Slaughterhouse Nine, and now listening to a young assassin asking her to show him what she did? While not the weirdest, it was almost near the top on her weirdness scale.

"So... How do we do this?"

The assassin who, evidently, only wanted to try this whole "therapy" thing out of curiosity.

"Let's start with the basics. What can you tell me about yourself?"

"Hmm... You know my name. And I can't tell you much more than that. Sorry, professional obligations and all, you know?"

"That's fine. Normally, a degree of trust is needed for this. But under our circumstances, it can't be helped. How are you, then?"

The set up was a little cliché, she admitted. But for the spontaneous "session", they just used the main living area. Lubbock was lying on the couch, and Jessica on the chair the opposite of him.

It was almost one of those Hollywood-set therapist offices. If you ignore the sound of the two cooks arguing in the kitchen right behind them.

"What do you mean by 'how'? I'm in great shape, as always." He flashed a grin as he said that.

"I meant your feelings. I'd make a guess here that your job is often stressful, and you just lost someone, except we came here and complicated everything."

"It's a lot." He agreed. "We got her back, though. Not... all of her, but it's still a miracle. Your people are amazing, huh?"

"I can only tell you that everything has a price. But we're here to talk about your problems, not mine."

"Well, I'm happy at any rate. Everybody was. That's unbelievable. I was half-expecting you two to be crazies, and Tatsumi has gone insane from losing another friend, then bam, she actually did it. You'll get used to losing people in this kind of work, but it still sucks. Even boss, she may look all calm and collected but she's freaking out, I can tell. She cares a lot about us, and she'd try her best to keep us all alive, you know? She'll agonize over losing Chelsea."

"What about you then? Do you feel guilty about her death? Feel that you should've done something?"

"I guess? I mean, she went out on her own decision. And that's just part of the job after all. Maybe I could've stopped her. Maybe I could've gone with her, injured or not I could still fight. But it's all in hindsight. And besides, we found you because of that."

Jessica took a few notes on that and continued. "Moving back a bit, you singled out miss Najenda. Can you tell me more about your relationship?"

Lubbock startled, and he threw her a sheepish grin before answering.

"Yeah... about that, doc..."

* * *

He read the letter from the Night Raid commander. Then reread it again. Then he asked his aides if they were using a new secret cipher that he was unaware of. Then after confirming that there was none, he read it again.

Then he wondered if the war had finally got to her.

...Well, at any rate they would need to check it out. He'd send some people over to Kyoroch. Right after he talk it over with the others in High command.

* * *

 _The far north..._

It was getting boring. Everywhere it was simply white snowy mountains, snowy white mountains, and mountainous snowy white.

After they crushed the rebellion and buried the entire Northern army, there was simply not many things to do.

What's the point of patrolling when there's simply no one left to threaten them?

That was, until he saw a flash of light in the distance. Or so he thought.

He considered running back to the post and ask for backup. But thinking about it, it was probably nothing, after all who was even left here? And if ended up being nothing but his imagination, he would become the butt of the next round of jokes.

He walked slowly toward the place, hidden behind a small white snowy hill, mindful to keep an eye to his surroundings in case anything actually did happen.

When he reached the top, he saw it.

It was hard to spot at first, with the poor light from the moon and everything being so goddamn white, but he recognized the outline.

A white wing. A _gigantic_ white wing, more than five meters long by his estimation. Feathers so white they almost blended into the snow, staying completely still even in the artic wind. A stiffness suggesting hardness in dissonance with its appearance.

 _It must be from a danger beast._ He thought. The kind of beast had wings that large, and what could have fell it, he had no intention of finding out by himself.

So the Empire Soldier rushed back, to report to his superior, totally unaware of the true nature or origin of his finding...


	3. Chapter 3

1.2: Kill your belief .

 _Kyoroch – Secret rebel hideout._

"That's bad for your health."

"What?"  
"That thing." The girl pointed at the cigarette in his hand and said. So that was probably why she was making a face of complete disgust this whole time.

And he was wondering why she would be put off by his mere ideas, given what he heard she did.

The "what", or rather "who", was sitting on the third chair next to them.

Well, "sitting" was a relative term. Given that she was consisted of a human head and a half-by-two-third-of-a-meter metal box, with a mechanical arm connected to the right side, one almost identical to the Night Raid Commander's – probably her spare, in fact.

He had questioned why High Command would send him into a dangerous place like this and risk losing something as valuable as Perfector. But now he fully understood why.

The poor girl looked pretty confused with all the technical talk that has been going on between the two of them about the design for her body.

"Why? Everybody smokes, and I've yet to see anyone fall ill because of that."

"That's because you people didn't track the long term effects. Trust me, I can give you a list of the toxins in tobacco and their negative impacts. Can't believe your medication got so advanced without finding out about that. And it smells gross, too."

"If you say so." The rebel doctor shrugged and reluctantly squished the half-burned white stick into the ashtray. The metal gauntlets came under the light of the lamp and shone brightly as he did so. He had some doubts about her claim, but he'd rather believe the medical wizard (it was the only appropriate term he could come up with to describe the girl for what she was able to do), than to find out later that she was right.

Hm... Maybe he could do that after the war. A study on the long term effects of smoking.

"Thanks. I tried to ignore that for too long already. Now let's get back to work. Like I said, I'm willing to help you, but I don't think she's mentally ready for combat yet. From what I've heard, she was more of an infiltrator anyway. And I don't want to build weapons -" _Because I'm not sure I can stop_ went unsaid - "Right, Chelsea?"

"I... think so? I remember joining a few fights myself, but only to pick off stragglers on the fringes." The girl sheepishly replied. The vibration was created by the machine in place of her ruined vocal cords and went through her throat, into her palate and combined seamlessly with her own sinuses, teeth and tongue to create a voice that while still somewhat mechanical, sounded distinctly unique.

Remarkably ingenious, he'd say.

"And I'm afraid, too. I remember the pain, I remember the fear. I don't think I'm ready for that again." The redhead cast her gaze down, her lips tremble. He thought she would've shivered if she was able to.

"All I'm saying is that we should at least give you some means of self-defense. And Riley, you don't need to build any weapon. I can handle that on my own."

"Sorry can't do. I need to make sure everything is compatible, and the entire system will need my maintenance, so I'll end up working on whatever you put in doc."

"It's all temporarily anyway, isn't it? You'll grow her a new biological body, won't you?"

"That's the plan, unless you have any objection, sis?"

The girl shook her head. A forlorn look showed on her face. "I want to feel again, doc. I want to be able to eat real food, to feel fresh clothes on my skin, to feel the heat of a warmth bath after a hard day, and to feel the warm of their embraces instead of... this." The girl said, then she steeled her features, and continued:

"So please, Riley, doc. Give me a body to protect them. I don't want any of us to have to go through my fate."

"As you wish then." The blonde sighed. "Speaking of those, don't you think they've gone out a little too long already?"

* * *

"Maaaan, what a waste."

He began to turn and walked away. The girl was cute. Why did this always happen to him? Getting beaten up was not enough, why did he always end up having to kill some cute girl? Why couldn't he just fight some old geezers instead?

His right arm stung a lot. There was probably a bone fracture. Those Demons hit hard, he'd give them that.

Well, at least their latest acquisition should be able to patch it up. That girl would put any doctor to shame with what she could do. And more importantly, he saved a cute rebel spy! That would balance it out, right?

Still a shame, really. Or...

 _Wait a second... But why... Oh, they can interrogate her, right? Totally no untoward motivation here._

* * *

"...Heh he he..."

The Rakshasa laughed one last times as he drew his last breath. Which shouldn't really be possible, both of his lungs would have been ruined from being chopped in half, but she wouldn't even try to understand how it worked.

Akame walked toward the head of the poor rebel trooper, picked it up and carried it with her as she made her way from the scene. Had the Jaeger Run stuck around, he would have thought that was to give the soldier a proper burial.

Of course, she had another plan in mind.

The girl from another world stared at the corpse of the tanned girl and the severed head of the thirty-something man on the table in front of her for a good fifteen seconds before uttering:

"Seriously?"

She took a look at the two assassins. The boy at least had the decency to look sheepish, meanwhile Akame was just as blank as ever.

There was something wrong about her, Riley thought. She'd check up with Doc Yamada about that later.

"Alright, that'd be more on your tabs. So what's first now? 'Interrogation' or reviving this chap?", she made an air quote sign at the word. It was no secret why Lubbock picked the girl instead of the hulk to bring back.

"As much as I want to punch him for that, it's true that we don't often get our hand on high ranking members of the Empire's force." Najenda said, as icily as possible for what was technically not a threat. The greenhead cracked his forced grin even wilder at that. "Plus you can work faster with the body intact, right?"

"Right, now just let me put this dude into storage. And I have a condition: I can make her overtly honest, but if you want to use more... forceful techniques, please don't tell me anything about that."

"No problem there doc." The commander said. "How's your work with Chelsea's body going?"

"It's great, the doctor is very helpful", Riley said as she skipped toward the locker – the "fridge" the two of them had built, opened it up, pulled out a small tank with black liquid, put the head in and put them both back in, next to similar tanks holding samples from the local wildlife, the Icursio Teigu, and a single strand of platinum gold hair. Next to the "fridge" was a bigger tank with a small fleshy blob the size of a grapefruit floating in milky white solution. In a month, it would become Chelsea's new body.

A shame those Teigu things didn't get along with her passenger. All she got from trying to use his gauntlets was a splitting headache. Still, they were surely interesting, she felt that she would only need more time to learn how they worked.

Night Raid quickly vacated the room when she started working on the Rakshasa. Something never changed between worlds, it seemed.

* * *

"So Night Raid were here, too." Said Esdeath as she stared down at the corpse of the hulking Empire's Demon. His body had multiple cuts all around. That would be the second Rakshasa dead at their hands.

"And Mez is still missing. You think they got her too?" Run asked. If only the demon Ibara didn't wait until he withdrew last night before making a move on Akame, he probably wouldn't be lying in pieces in the graveyard now.

"They'd know it would be too risky to take her prisoner, and they don't have the habit of stealing corpses. More likely that we just didn't find her yet."

The winged Jaeger replied. "This time it could be different, we have a report about a gas attack at Romari. It's highly possible that they found someone who can use Perfector and kidnapped her as a test subject. With Teigu-made sedative, they could keep her quiet without trouble."

"That's true." the general agreed. "It would be drastically different from what they've been doing. But they're rebel scum after all."

"In any case, we need to tighten security around the town, this mission just became a lot more interesting." The blue haired woman said with a feral, predatory grin. "I can't wait to kill them all with my own hands."

* * *

The city was pretty lively, all things considered, Jessica thought as she walked alongside the Night Raid boy and the young Tinker.

The marketplace was not all that different from the ones commonly found in developing countries on Bet, with vendors selling the same kind of goods, if different in the specifics. There was no sight of the ongoing war here.

Riley was having a blast. The two older members of the group had to practically chase after her as she rushed from one store to the next, collecting bags full of everything from exotic plants to mechanical parts for her tinkering.

The boy – Tatsumi, looked at the girl with great appreciation, something Jessica doubted the girl received much of.

She still didn't trust the group, but getting to unwind once in a while was something she could enjoy. She'd even put aside her worries for the therapy group for today.

"Thanks for taking us out shopping."

"No problem." The boy replied. "I need to buy food anyway and having two people outside of our age group makes me less suspicious. Besides, It is nothing compared to what you did for my friend," he grinned, "I'd do everything for you for that."

"You care a lot about your friends."

"Yeah, I suppose that's not a good thing for my profession."

"Actually, I think it's a good thing. You're fighting against the tyranny of the Empire, it's important to make sure you're better than them. Keeping your cares for others is a part of that."

"Thanks doc. I think we should stop now, people may hear us." The boy said. "When this is over, I'll do my very best to find you two a way home."

"Oh you don't need to worry about that. I'm sure someone will come to pick us up." Jessica thought about her companion. She was right: sooner or later, whoever came out ahead in the going conflicts on Gimel would come to get her.

She could only hope that the one who did would not bring something worse than both sides of this civil war to this world.

* * *

His day was not getting better, the aging professor thought.

He had always been a loyal citizen of the Empire. Sure, it had its problems, but it also had order. Rebellion meant chaos, meant anarchy. Order was good, order was predictable. He could work with predictable.

And it paid him well for his job at the capital's Academy, so he never found any reason to look too closely at the rougher edges.

So it was a surprise for him when two soldiers from the royal army showed up in front of his door this morning and "invited" him to come with them.

As soon as he stepped into the carriage, they pulled a black bag over his head.

And now he was here, on a metal chair in an empty room in a secret facility. The smooth steel table in front of him was long and cold to the touch, and there was no windows in the room, save for many small air vents.

He had been waiting for ten minutes before _he_ walked into the room.

For a man named "Honest", he looked anything but. The overweighed man moved with surprising quickness, his greasy visage was not something even the most generous would describe as "trustworthy". His gray hair and long beard failed to inspire any sense of respect they usually had for most people, instead somehow made him feel even more... disreputable.

The professor did wonder if knowing that most of the aforementioned problems were originated from the Prime Minister colored his bias on the man's appearance.

Honest sat down on the chair opposite of him. Two soldiers followed after him, each carried a briefcase. One was long and heavily reinforced, the other was just a normal leather business case. He broke out what could be generously regarded as a reassuring smile, but in truth it came out more as a predatory one.

"Sorry for keep you waiting, Professor Gilbert. I'm a busy man. And sorry for the... rather rude way of getting you here, but we must maintain secrecy."

"It's no trouble at all, Prime Minister. Why do I have this honor?", Gilbert lied through his teeth. In truth, he knew full well that nothing good ever came out of involving with the Man.

"Oh. Well, you see, you're one of the best material scientists we have. And there have been some... developments lately that necessitate your involvement in a new project. You'll be rewarded handsomely when it's over."

"But what about my job?"

"We'll arrange it with the Academy. You don't have to worry." The man gestured to the soldier with the smaller briefcase, who stepped up and opened it.

Gold.

Lots and lots of gold.

The professor swallowed hard. He knew full well that rejecting an offer from the most powerful man in the Empire would not bode well for him. And with that amount of gold, he could retire, move to a fringe city far away from all this, and live a life of leisure.

There was no reason for him to refuse.

So he answered. "Alright, I'm in. What do you want me to do?"

"Thank you, professor. What I need you to do, is for you to work with a team of similarly brilliant people, and together, you'll be using this –" the fat man now gestured to the remaining soldier, who put the case on the table in front of the minister. Honest pulled out a key from his pocket and began to open up the locks, then he turned the briefcase toward the professor while saying.

"-to make a new weapon."

Gilbert took the case, pulled it close to himself and looked. Inside, there was a single gigantic platinum white feather.

* * *

 _Pink hair, twin tail. There was no doubt it was the Night Raid woman,_ she thought.

And Tatsumi was with her.

To think that the sweet country boy would be consumed by evil... It filled her with rage. Such vile villainy, corrupting the pure wherever it touched.

She would need to purge them, cleanse the filth off the face of this world.

Seryu waited until the one remaining Rakshasa demon made if off, then she prepared her barrage. The only proper response to villainy was the fire of justice.

That was, until she saw someone else approaching before she could unleash. A ... child and a young redhead? Both were walking toward the two devils, and it seemed like the woman was leaning against the child, unsure of her steps.

Wait... that redhead looked rather familiar, she realized.

So the Jaeger pulled out her binoculars again and took a look.

There was no mistaking it. That hair, that face, that same headband.

 _Impossible,_ the soldier thought, her eyes widened. She saw that same head being put on a pike in the middle of the town.

Her own Koro ate the remains of the body.

Before Seryu could react, however, the child and the redhead both stopped.

And both of them turned directly toward her.


	4. Chapter 4

1.3:

"Do you know her?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe. Are those guns?"

"Yes. Big ones. I think we should run. You're in no state for combat yet."

"What about them?"

"You tell them, you have the amplifiable vocal cord, not me." Said the girl, as she turned and started running away.

She was surprisingly quick for her size, Chelsea thought.

The mysterious stranger seemed to have recovered from her shock and started loading the weapons again, however. Chelsea decided to warn her two comrades, before following Riley's advice and worked her unsteady legs as fast as she could.

* * *

"WATCH OUT!"

She heard the mechanical scream just as she detected the scent of gunpowder in the air.

And Mine just had enough time to see a barrage of projectiles of all shapes and sizes barreling toward her before Tatsumi in his Teigu form rammed into her. He wrapped his arms around her, and picked her up fireman-style before kicking off the ground just moments before the explosions.

Despite herself, Mine could still feel her heart jumped.

 _Chelsea!_ She thought, as the giant rushed her away from a flurry of fireballs. _If she gets caught in this, she'll be dead for real._ At least, it seemed the bitch was focusing on them and didn't shoot at Chelsea. She tried to scream out to Tatsumi to check on their friend, but found her voice drowned out as he zig-zagged his way across the canyon, ammunitions raining down left and right beside them, the air itself shook with the bombings, kicking up a cloud of dust, until finally, after what felt like an eternity, the barrage stopped.

Only for a very large, very toothy, very bear-like giant dog-thing to charge through the fog straight at them. Tatsumi, for his part, already drew his weapon and ran straight at the beast.

Mine could see the shadow of someone running away toward the city. But there was no time to worry about that.

Because from afar, her optic picked up the shape of the Jaeger herself, chasing after the stumping, retreating figure of her reconstructed friend.

* * *

 _Damn,_ Seryu silently cursed. Her moment of hesitation had cost her the element of surprise. The evildoers had time to react, and now the supposedly-dead woman was running away. And while cleansing evil from this world was her mission, this mystery was too much to ignore: if it was what it first appeared to be, they must have found a Teigu that could bring back the dead. Such a powerful, unheard of weapon could not be allowed to be in the hands of the villains. She must bring that woman back at all cost for questioning and examination. So after sending Koro to stall the two fighters, she took chase after the redhead. Her target had a head start, but she looked injured, and Seryu was confident in her own superior mobility.

Using her grappling hook, the soldier quickly closed the distance between them. The girl kept tripping by herself only made her job easier.

One thousand and one hundred meters. She could line up a shot from here, but blowing someone to smithereens would make interrogating them significantly harder.

Eight hundred. She took a look at the fight behind her. There was too much dust to tell.

Five hundred. There was no place for her to use her hook. No matter, she could catch up on foot.

Three hundred. She could tell that the two-on-one fight was still going on. Koro was strong, he should be able to hold the two of them off for a while longer, until she secured this woman. Then they could hold off the two devils together until reinforcements arrived.

Almost there. She could take a disabling shot from this distance. One didn't need legs to talk. She did. The heavy caliber bullets hit the redhead's left legs right around the knee, sent sparks flying, and her target tumbling down.

 _An artificial body._ Seryu thought. She should have expected this: after all, the only thing left of the woman was the head. No matter, she got her target.

Then, pain blossomed.

She watched as a glowing projectile sped away, having torn through her left side. The energy bullet from the pink head's Teigu had found its mark. The impact sent her stumbling down, just a dozen meters away from the not-dead woman.

Seryu quickly used her arms to prop herself up and turned around. Koro was still fighting Icursio. But the woman had broken away and was running toward her, gun in her hands.

Though Seryu had to admit that scoring a hit from that distance was impressive.

 _Better deal with this one quick_ , she thought. Her injury was not quite severe, at least not immediately. She was bleeding heavily, her skirt had turned crimson from her own blood, but she could still hold on until the Captain arrived.

She hoped.

The Jaeger had finally stood up and started advancing toward the fallen redhead. Her target was shaking, trying desperately to crawl backwards. Despite the situation, Seryu allowed herself to laugh triumphantly at that: the sign of an evildoer crouching in fear before justice. If only Captain Esdeath could see that.

Just in case, she shifted her arm into Judgment number five. The giant drill spun threateningly as she held it up and pointed it at the woman. She forced out the words, the pain was getting more and more intense, and speaking was getting harder:

"I saw you. You were cut up into pieces. How? How can you..."

She never had the chance to finish, as a second shot from the other rebel woman hit her right shoulder. Weird, she didn't even feel the pain as her entire right arm got ripped out of its socket. _Shit,_ she couldn't use number five's range attack function without her right arm. She thought about Esdeath's brilliant smile. She always cared a lot for her subordinates, Seryu would worry her a lot if she saw her like this.

 _What a weird thing to think about_ , she thought.

She glanced back at the fight behind. That simple movement was hard, the muscles in her neck screamed in protest as she did so. The fight seemed to be over: Koro's giant shadow was nowhere to be found, and the armored assassin was running toward her direction too. The armored warrior must be Tatsumi. How dare the boy betray Esdeath and join forces with Night Raid? It would hurt the Captain badly – no doubt, but no problem, she would be there to console her.

Hah, no matter. She still had some weapons left. She lifted her left arm up and...

Dropped it down?

Seryu tried to move her head. She couldn't. She tried to kick into the ground to spring up, but her legs felt like lead. She tried to activate the hidden weapons still inside her. Nothing. Her muscles failed to move.

She even tried to use the Final Judgment, the bomb inside her skull, but her jaw could not find the force to click the trigger.

So Seryu laid there in total silence, save for her ragged breathing, which was getting shorter and shorter, she idly noted.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the red-headed woman, the woman who was supposed to be dead, approaching. She was holding something in her hand. An empty vial.

"I was never much a fighter, in my last life or this one." She heard the woman said. Her voice was distant, despite her being so close. "But trickery was my forte. And this body is fully equipped with the tools for that."

 _Hah, sorry I've failed you, Captain._ Seryu thought. So there she was, bleeding out in the middle of nowhere, completely alone. She saw the other devils arriving, plus the blonde child from earlier. She thought about her father, her mentor, her savior, the ones who had died under their hands. She thought about Captain Esdeath, her kind smile, her care for the Jaegers, her worries for them.

She wanted to see Esdeath again. She didn't want to die here.

And with that, the world broke apart.

* * *

He realized something was going wrong when Riley suddenly collapsed.

The next thing was a blinding flash of blue light, and Mine's scream.

When the light died down, Seryu was gone. And the pink haired girl was not where she was just a moment ago. Tatsumi frantically looked around for her, and found the girl dozens of meters away. She was thrown back, but otherwise seemed fine. Chelsea was just as confused as he was.

Then, Riley swore before she even stood up.

"Well, fuck. Didn't expect that."

* * *

They didn't even have time to listen to the Rakshasa's full story. He took off before Esdeath even finished giving her order.

 _Stupid._ Run thought. To confront Night Raid alone like that was reckless. Surprise factor or not, that was taking unnecessary risks.

With his Teigu, he was the fastest of them, so he would go ahead and give her aid as soon as possible. The former teacher just hoped that he wouldn't be too late. The ruins were not too far away from the city, it shouldn't take him much time to get there. Already, he could see smoke rising in the distance.

And... a flash of blue light going away from the ruins?

It stopped somewhere just outside the ruins. Run decided to investigate it first. So he slowly descended as he got closer.

And he found the prone form of his colleague, battered and unconscious, lying face-down on the ground. She was pale and bleeding, her breaths were shallow, and her entire right arm was missing, including parts of her shoulder.

The Jaeger didn't think before he picked her up and made a rush back to the city.

* * *

"How's the process, Professor?"

"It's an extraordinary material, unlike anything we've ever seen before. Incredible toughness and tensile strength, the inner layers are stronger than anything we've ever found. It also exhibits some temporal and spatial warping effects. We tried to look into the inner parts, but the readings were... abnormal. It doesn't seem to follow the laws of physics that we know. The wing itself as a whole has telekinetic effect: small objects will levitate slightly off the ground when placed nearby."

"All of that is fascinating, but can you tell me how are you going to make a weapon out of it, and when?"

"We've tried to fuse the material with different substances, to very limited success. The outer layers, when broken down with heat and pressure and mixed with metal, the results didn't exhibit any special characteristic compared to the base metals, except increased toughness in some cases."

"What about Orihalcon?"

"We haven't tried that, sir, it's too valuable to use carelessly."

"Worry not, Professor. We can melt down some of those unused Teigu if needed."

"Sir...?"

"Do you have any objection?"  
"No, sir, we'll get a prototype for testing as soon as possible."

"Excellent, I expect more from you in the future, Professor."

* * *

"How did she got out of there in this state?" Esdeath said.

"I don't know. We need to wait until she wakes up." Run answered. _If she wakes up,_ he thought.

They both stood and watched over the sleeping form of their comrade. Wave and Kurome had paid her a visit earlier, but both had excused themselves.

The town's doctors had done their job, but he wasn't sure if that would be enough. He'd rather move her to the capital, but with her injuries, traveling that far might be too dangerous.

"And you didn't find any trace of Night Raid?"

"I was too busy getting her here. When I came back, all that left was the destroyed ruins."

"So much potential, almost wasted." His boss sighed. He could see a hint of worry on her face, but still, her comment bothered him.

To see a human as nothing more than their strength, it was yet another symptom of the diseases that plagued the Empire.

Run took another look at the sleeping young girl. She looked so peaceful here. A stark contrast with the manic grin she wore into battle, as she tore mercilessly into the enemies of the Empire – or "enemies of Justice", as she would put it.

A girl with that much drive and conviction, twisted so much by the festering illnesses.

Run sighed again. Sometimes, he wondered if it would have been better if he joined the other side instead.


	5. Chapter 5

1.4: Kill everything.

The general silently watched over Kyoroch from the vantage point of Borick's mansion. The night was still young, the sky was clear and the full moon shined brightly, illuminating the city below.

It reminded her of that night, on the mountain range at the outskirts of the capital. The night she found Tatsumi, only to lose him again.

The time they spent trapped on the tropical isle. Just the two of them.

The happiest she had ever felt during her whole life.

He kept no secret regarding his distaste for the Empire. During their brief time together, he made it clear that he would join the revolution given the chance, and he had even tried to persuade her. Persuade her – the Empire's strongest, a decorated general to betray her country, what a naive boy!

Having him actually joining Night Raid was not an outcome outside of the realm of possibility, one that changed nothing. That only meant she needed to seize him by force, taking him for herself.

After all, she was the Empire's strongest. She always got what she wanted. It was the way all things should be: the strong ruled over the weak. And in this world, her strength was unrivalled.

After rushing Seryu to the hospital the night before, they finally got the time to listen to the full report from the Rakshasa Suzuka, including her descriptions of the two Night Raid members they spotted. While the first one, the pink headed woman, was a known wanted; the boy with spiky yellow hair was a new one. It didn't take long for the rest of her team to recognize who that was.

For their parts, they had shown concern for her, even if that was totally unnecessary. She appreciated the gestures nonetheless.

A shame that their numbers kept dwindling. They were strong, but they were not strong enough to match up to Night Raid. With Seryu's injuries and the loss of her Teigu, they only had four left.

They still had her, however. If, or when, they actually met on the battlefield, she would make sure to take vengeance for her subordinates, as a leader should.

That time would come soon, she knew. Night Raid must act before Borick's plan comes to fruition. She knew Najenda realized that, too. The Jaegers needed to maintain a high level of security all the time.

So there she was, standing alone on a balcony. The cold night wind caressed her skin, it was nothing compared to the wind of her homeland, but it was enough to give her a sense of nostalgia.

Esdeath wondered if she decided to take watch by herself because of genuine concern about enemy action, or because the news about Tatsumi had made her heart flutter again.

Regardless, it was not a bad night to stay out.

At least until her de factor second in command, Run, rushed into the scene. He had a tactical mind that other members of her group lacked: the man always thought things through before jumping into action, a trait that could be attributed to his past as a school teacher. The winged Jaeger informed her with hurried words that Seryu had woken up.

And she wanted to talk with the captain.

* * *

 _Rebel secret hideout, that morning..._

The entirely of their group gathered around the dining table – save for Susanoo, who was still busy cooking breakfast. In the center was the commander. To her left, Akame and Lubbock. To her right, it was the group that went out last night, plus Leone herself and minus Riley. Mine and Tatsumi were sitting awfully close, she noted. Well, whatever, she would take it in stride, the blonde thought as she put a hand on Chelsea's shoulder and squeezed gently.

It was shaking, so she pulled the girl a little closer.

By all accounts, yester night's skirmish was a success: even if she escaped, they had got her Teigu, and from what she heard, the bitch would not be moving any time soon.

Well, _should not._

The strangers from the other world – both the little doctor and Jessica Yamada, were sitting opposite of the commander. The older woman had a worried look on her face – something she didn't think she had ever seen before. The girl looked dead serious, a total contrast with her usual cheerful expression.

The silence stretched out for several seconds before Najenda began.

"Can you explain what happened last night?"

The girl exhaled sharply, then answered with a slow, deliberate tone.

"It's called a trigger event. It's the point when you get pushed past your breaking point. The point something snaps. Fight or flight response at its limit. Emotional distress at the very extreme: despair, anger, et cetera. The push can be physical or mental, it can be over in a second or stretch out for months."

"And at that point when you're the most vulnerable, _something_ out there, hiding in the empty worlds scattered all around this multiverse, some call them shards, some call them agents. I call them passengers. They reach out, forming a connection with you, forcing their tendrils into your brain."

"And you wake up to find yourself changed, possessing powers unlike anything you had before."

"Powers? Like yours?" Leone asked. A cold ran down her spine, to think that their enemies now had the same tremendous advantage they had.

"Yes." "No." the girl answered at the same time as the older woman. Doctor Yamada spoke: "Each power is unique to that individual, the circumstances of a trigger event determine, or at least influence the particulars of the resulting power. Physical stresses have a high chance of leading to power with an emphasis on physical factors: strength, speed, toughness. While mental distresses tend to result in mentally driven powers."

"And 'yes' because fundamentally all powers come from the same source." Riley continued. "From the look of it, our nutcase last night got some form of movement power. But no matter what form it takes, all powers are the results of a same process."

"Excuse me, while I don't doubt it happened in your world, are you sure something like that can happen in ours? Why hasn't it happened here before?" the black haired assassin asked. She had been staying quiet until now.

"The things that grant power, they're... 'sentient' is not the right word, but it's close enough." The tinker answered her immediately. "They have their own plans and agendas. And for the purposes of those plans and agendas, they've been focusing mostly on our world. The other worlds we came into contact with don't have nearly as many people with power, or 'parahumans' as we're called, as us. Some only have a handful. It is possible that she may be the first one in this world, or there were some before her but they were so few in number to be found."

"A lot of people went through distress in the Empire every day. Hell, most of us here did. She actually died." The greenhead said, pointing at the girl next to her, his voice raising. "Why did only their attack dog get powers from that?"

This time, it was the bespectacled woman. "The passengers, they are selective in choosing their hosts. They tend to seek out people whose usage of power would lead to the fulfillment of said plans and agendas."

"They want conflict." Riley said. "So they give out powers in a way that would promote the most amount of aggression, and she fits that profile. That's why if I try to make super crops or mass produce medication for disease, I will fail. Either the inspiration would never come or something would go wrong with the production. Those large scale improvements will result in less reasons for competition, and my passenger won't cooperate."

"And what, exactly, are those 'passengers' things?" Najenda finally said. Her face had hardened to a complete seriousness. "What are their plans and agendas? Do we have to worry about them?"

"Well, boss-lady. It's a long long story..."

* * *

The small hospital room that had been reserved for Seryu felt a little crowded with their entire team inside.

They probably should have someone guarding their charge, but Wave figured that the slime-face should be able to handle a few hours on his own.

To the right side of the bed, Run stood. He was smiling faintly in relief. The man had been the one who found her and brought her here just in time. Without his speed, Seryu's condition would have been far worse.

Kurome was standing next to Wave at the end of the bed. Even though he was worried about Seryu, he couldn't help but steal a glance at her every now and then.

He'd rather have the girl rest until she's fully recovered, but with Seryu out of the fight, and her own insistence, he knew they had no choice but to let her participate.

Esdeath was sitting on the left side of the bed. She was holding the soldier's one remaining hand in her own. The general had a look on her face that he didn't think he saw often. A look that can almost be described as 'motherly'.

And for the patient herself, she was still pale, but she seemed a lot better than just the night before, when they brought her in. The stump that was her right arm had been bandaged up, so was the hole in her side. The girl still couldn't get up, but at least she was awake and had enough strength to squeeze back at the captain's hands.

A miraculous recovery, considered the injuries.

"I didn't think I would see you again, captain." Seryu said. Her voice was low.

"It's alright. I know you have the strength to pull through." The older woman gently said. "I want you to rest well and heal fast. Any report can be saved for later. The Rakshasa told us enough. When we get back to the capital, I'll help you get a new Teigu."

"No, she didn't." The girl said, shaking her head. "There were things she didn't see. Things I must tell you."

"And what are those things?"

"I've seen the dead come back to life." The girl paused for breath. "I... I don't know how. But I've seen her. The girl. The one who Kurome killed, the one who killed Bols. The one whose body you dissected and then fed to Koro, the head we put on the pike."

 _What?_ Wave thought. For a moment, he wondered if he had misheard.

Next to him, he could see Kurome tensed up.

"What do you mean?" Esdeath, too, dropped her relaxed face. The general narrowed her eyes, and quizzed. "What do you mean by 'come back?'"

"She was there. It was her, I'm sure. She has a mechanical body now, but the face... the head was the same."

There was a moment of complete silence, then, Run spoke up.

"They did steal the head from Romari."

"Wait," Wave finally found his voice. "Does that mean they have a Teigu that can bring back the dead?"

"There's no Teigu with that power." The winged man answered him. "Such a weapon doesn't exist."

"Then how...?"

"The how doesn't matter." Wave was interrupted by the girl next to him. Her voice was low, but by no means small. Her face was cast to the ground, and she was shaking. "She's alive, right? Then we just need to kill her again. That bitch killed Bols. He had a family waiting for him. And she took him away from them. It doesn't matter how they brought her back. We just need to keep killing her again and again, until she stops returning." Kurome finished, then she took a deep breath and pulled out her bag of candies and took one, as if to calm herself down. "I'll cut that bitch to pieces again, I'll crush her head this time to make sure that whatever sorcery they used cannot bring her back again."

"I'm sorry Kurome." Seryu said. "I tried to capture her, but it looks like I bit off more than I can chew." She smiled a weak smile, the usual warm pink still hadn't returned to her lips.

Wave thought about agreeing with Kurome. Despite his misgivings with the Empire, the fact that the woman killed his comrade didn't change. They killed someone he cared about, someone with loved ones waiting for them. He could get behind revenge.

But, before he could voice his opinion, Esdeath replied:

"Regardless of your misgiving, we need to capture her alive. Whatever method they used, a way to bring back the dead is extremely valuable. We need to question and inspect her about it." Then, the general turned toward Kurome, her face softened. "I'll make sure that she'll regret being alive again."

"And there's more, captain." The girl on the bed called out. "I've seen something else."

"What else, Seryu?"

"I've seen God, and he ended the world."

* * *

 _Meanwhile, at the capital..._

It was a rare sight to see, for the Prime Minister to have guests for dinner (or rather, second dinner. Or one could even call it third, if one was to count a 'light snack' at four the first).

It was rarer still, for one of the guests to show absolutely no respect by putting his feet on the table. Not many had the gall to do that in front of the Man. Fewer still survived.

The exception, of course, was when the person in question was his kin.

"You're eating too much, pop."

"Shut up, son. It's because your souvenirs are too delicious."

"And let me guess, the situation with the rebellion isn't going well, huh?" Said the tanned young man, whose aforementioned feet were resting on the dining table.

Looking at his muscular body and his roguish handsome face, in contrast with the Prime Minister's... less than stellar physique, one couldn't have guessed that the two men were related. But of course, in truth, Honest was much more of a looker back then, and the mothers side contributed greatly to the appearance of the child, willingly or not.

"Oh don't worry. Everything is under control. General Esdeath is about to secure us an important asset from the rebels, and we may even get a new Ace in the hole."

"And that's why you want to meet me early, right, Mister Honest – this 'Ace' thing?" Said a third voice, a young female.

"Indeed, you're as sharp as my son said. I hope you enjoyed our country so far, Miss..."

"Call me Dorothea, Mister Honest. And it has been wonderful." The woman with the appearance of a young girl said with a grin, showing two fangs, far too sharp and too pointed to be natural. "Under your son's guidance, I've had a lot of fun."

"Well, straight to the point: my son had been made aware of a secret project of mine. We've recently hit a few roadblocks, and he recommended bringing you in. He vouched for your ability. I hope that his trust is not misplaced. For your own sake, of course." The Man clasped his hands together and leaned forward as he said that. For a moment, one could catch the glimpse of the power he held, and the threat such power possessed.

"Then it's lucky I arrived early, isn't it? And you don't have to worry, Mister. I'm a woman of science. I will do everything in my power." The girl, completely undisturbed by the threat, continued grinning as she extended her hand to the Man.

"Indeed, Miss Dorothea. Welcome to the Project. I look forward to seeing your results." Said the overweighed politician, as he took the small, child-like hand in his.

* * *

"... And that's about it. The good news is that he's dead, and we're no longer in danger of being wiped out to the last. The bad news is that we have no idea how that will affect the remaining passengers. For all we know, they're just doing things at random now." The girl finished her story with a shrug, like the death of more people than Leone knew could possibly exist and the potential extinction of the entire human race was nothing.

There was a complete silence as the rest of her team processed the story. A silence that was finally broken when the blonde brute declared:

"Anybody needs a drink?"


	6. Chapter 6

1.5: Kill the past.

She would never get used to this, Chelsea thought.

The very idea of surgery itself was mildly unsettling: you were laid down, exposed, rendered defenseless, to let a stranger cut you open, to probe and prod at your very body; seeing, examining and operating on the most sensitive, most intimate parts of yourself. That she was awake the whole time and that her current body was not strictly _hers_ only made it weirder.

The fact that it reminded her of the final moment of her old life; when she was laid low, helpless, defenseless, wide awake as the blade of the living corpse tore into her - didn't help.

Still, she tried not to complain. After all, to be able to feel that fear again meant to be alive.

Riley had been working on cleaning and repairing her life support systems for thirty minutes now. Together with doctor Jozef – the current owner of Perfector, the child surgeon was able to give her a body that was capable of eating normal food. She was infinitely grateful for that: Susanoo's cooking beat out nutrient paste injection ten times out of ten.

The redhead felt a little guilty for taking Riley's time. Between fixing her and Borak – the rebel soldier Akame brought back, the research on Teigu, and monitoring the growth of their permanent bodies, the girl barely had free time. Chelsea could count the times she left her lab on two hands.

At least she seemed to enjoy her work, as she was always humming. And the rebels were paying her a premium, in both equipment and cash, for her works on their injuries.

Today maintenance, however, would take a lot longer than usual.

"Thanks a lot again, Riley. Sorry for bothering you with something so selfish." She said, as the tinker prepared to move onto the next part.

As she got used enough to this body, the idea of doing some cosmetic updates came up.

As first, the thought of putting so much effort into something temporary seemed strange, but both doctor Yamada and Riley agreed that it would help her re-familiarize herself with her body image.

And, Chelsea had to admit, she _wanted_ to look pretty, she was still a girl after all. And moreover, she _wanted_ to get his attention.

Her last thought before... _this_ was about him, after all.

"It's no problem sis, I need practice on cosmetic jobs anyway." The blonde answered. "Didn't have much experience on that front."

"So I'm your lab rat, huh?" She teased the girl.

"Wouldn't be the first." Riley said, and briefly looked up to the ceiling and puffed before going back to pulling the skin-like polymer out from the vat.

"Oh, I'm sure you did well back then, too." As the cyborg assassin (it was a pretty cool title, she thought) said that, however, she saw the girl's smile falter, just for a moment.

Come to think of it, despite being here for more than three weeks already, the two travelers had been very tight-lips about their past.

"Well, you can say that I accomplished what I wanted back then." _That sounds like there's a story_ , Chelsea thought.

She wouldn't pry if the girl was unwilling. She owed the little doctor her life, it was the least she could do.

There was silence.

After getting the material ready, the next step would be creating the... _curves_.

Luckily, they still had some of her old clothes, enough to take a guess at the measurements, given that her memories were less than reliable these days.

As she prepared, Riley asked:

"Do you wish to make any last minute adjustment?"

"I think it's fine, I remember it was enough to impress Tatsumi." She smiled. The memory of catching the boy peeping on her resurfaced. It was fun teasing him.

The tinker smirked. "You wouldn't be the only one trying to do that." She made a "Tsk" noise and continued. "I don't really get why he's so popular, but whatever."

"Hey kiddo, you'll get it when you get older."

"I'm not actually that young, you know." Replied the little(?) girl. "Chronologically, I'm almost seventeen now." Her smirk morphed into a toothy grin. Apparently, she had been waiting for someone to actually ask for a while now.

"Wait, what?" Chelsea narrowed her eyes in surprise. The girl was flat as a board, and while she was a little tall for a thirteen year-old, the lack of feminine features and her facial structure suggested she shouldn't be any older than that.

"Well, essentially I stunted my own growth out of necessary back then. Never found a reason to undo it." The girl shrugged, like she was talking about the weather.

"But why?" Chelsea almost jumped up. To do such a thing to herself...

Then she hastily added. "I mean, you don't need to answer if you don't want to."

"It's alright." Riley said. "It's a long story."

Silence followed.

As her body was worked on, her thought wandered again. And somehow, it ended up there, again...

Before Chelsea realized, she found herself talking.

"Do you think I deserve this? This... second chance?"

"What do you mean, sis?"

"I mean here I am, breathing and talking. Worrying about such things as impressing boys. I've killed many, you know? I like to think that they were bad people, but... The last man I killed, he did bad things. But... it was his job, to do the bad things. And he was a loving father. He had a family waiting for him. I killed him by pretending to be a little girl, to take advantage of his kindness. But I thought it was fine, for what he did, murdering him was personal for me. I... thought I would have been fine with my death, too, that I would accept it, for the things I've done. The people who loved him, they would want revenge, too. Reaping what I sowed, just like he did. But at the end, I was just terrified."

"Well, that's something you should hit up with doc Yamada instead. I'm not good at these things." The girl replied.

Then she paused, before continued.

"And to be honest, I'm in no position to judge."

Chelsea could feel her heart jump. Metaphorically, of course, since hers couldn't. What could the girl mean by that?

"We all need to own up to what we've done. And trust me, I have a lot more owning up to do than you." She smiled. It was not the usual mischievous smile, but a rather subdued one. It was not something Chelsea saw often. "So, do you want to hear my story?"

"Not if you don't want to." The redhead said sheepishly. Despite her curiosity, it was not her place to pry.

Although she had an inkling that whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"Nah, I need to get it out sooner or later anyway." Then the tinker kept talking as she got to work.

Her ability was wonderful, she thought. It even surpassed the power of the medical Teigu, Perfector itself.

"Let's start from the beginning. You remember how powers manifest, right?"

"Yes, I do."

The girl replied, with a flat, matter-of-fact tone.

"Well, sis, it all started when I watched my entire family being slaughtered..."

* * *

Sometimes, he wished Night Raid would just hurry up and assassinate the dirt-bag Borick already. This was one of such times.

The man irked him on so many levels. From his arrogance, his lust, his greed, to the way he took advantage of his followers. He was a representation of everything that was wrong with the Empire. Having to stand guard for his late night debauchery was wearing him down.

Seryu's rather concerning story did not help his mood, either. He felt unease thinking about the implications. They all did.

At first, it probably would have been easy to dismiss it as a hallucination, caused by blood loss and shock. But the Jaegers knew better than doing that.

 _A golden God, whose appearance was the very image of perfection, whose power was unimaginable. Whose cruelty was unmatchable. Whose fury burned entire worlds to ashes._

 _Whose grief proved to be unquenchable, as he allowed himself to be struck down._

And then, they got the proof for her tale.

 _"I think... I think I got a part of him. Of his power."_

He may just be a small town teacher, but Run was still a teacher. He knew about the multiverse theory, that there was more than just this world, that there were many parallel planes of existence. It had been nothing more than a fancy baseless hypothesis, a fancy thought exercise among scholars.

Until the moment Seryu vanished into the same blue light he saw that night and reappeared immediately at the other side of the room. The General, being on her path, got knocked aside.

Because the girl was still injured, they ended up having to help her get back to the bed. But the point was made very clear.

Esdeath had forbidden them from mentioning the story to anyone. Above all, the captain did care for her squad, and if this got out, the girl would become a subject to the Empire's researchers – something he'd rather not have anyone goes through.

 _Except_ ** _him_** _._ His mind wandered to the past for a moment.

For the time being, they would pass Seryu's new ability as the effect of a newly found Teigu, at least until they investigated further.

The winged tactician also had presented the idea that this phenomenon was what's responsible for the resurrection of the Night Raid woman with the general – this just made capturing her even more vital than before.

Fortunately, they knew there was only one window for the assassins to strike.

* * *

"You know doc, I'm still annoyed that Miss Najenda didn't seem to care at all about me." Lubbock complaint as he stretched out on the couch.

"I recall you said that she cares deeply for her subordinates. Surely, you can't be the sole exception?"

"No, I didn't mean something like that. I mean the _other_ kind of care. I joined the rebellion just for her, for fucks sake. And she still doesn't care."

"Did you tell her about your feeling?"

"No. I... I can't. If she rejects me, I don't know if I can handle it."

"Do you think she will?"

"I don't know. That's why it's so hard. Sometimes I get the hint that she does. But other times it feels like she'd laugh at my face for suggesting such absurdity."

"Well, I can't decide for you. You must analyze the costs and benefits, and assess the risks by yourself. It's something only you would know. Whether you will regret doing it or not doing it more."

"Yeah, I know, doc. It's just... frustrating."

"Maybe you can try other methods to prod her feelings? Creating an opportunity for her to express herself?"

"Hm... Maybe. I'll try to come up with something."

* * *

"Test subject number fifteen. Please, get ready." The female voice rang out from behind the one-way window.

Pravin walked shakily up onto the raised platform in the middle of the empty room. If he knew he would end up here, he wouldn't have picked a fight with the mayor's son. And he most certainly wouldn't beat that asshole into the special care unit.

"Please, pick up the object, and put it on." The voice ordered.

They offered him a chance to get out of jail, in exchange for participating in a government research project. The man knew those things were dangerous, and there was a chance he would die here. But he had no choice: pop needed him. Pop was getting weaker day by day. They didn't have much to begin with, and after the aforementioned asshole and his friends trashed their little food cart in their drunken stupor, pop needed him more than ever.

He looked at the small stool in the middle of the platform. There was a crown on it. It was a simple thing: consisting of only a milky white hard band, without any decoration. It looked to be made of crystal. It was clear enough to see through at the edge, but possessed a distinct metallic shine.

Pravin picked up the thing. It felt heavier than expected. Unlike what he expected, it was not cold to the touch, but was rather lukewarm. Hesitatingly, he put it down on his head.

Nothing happened.

Pravin blinked. He waited. Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. Still nothing.

A minute passed, then two. Then five, according to the clock on the wall. He just stood there, worrying, only for nothing to happened.

It was anticlimactic, he thought. He blinked again.

The door into the room opened, and a young girl and a middle aged man walked in. The girl was wearing a blue dress with a white apron, and a ribbon on her head. The man wore a lab coat, and carried with him a notebook.

They walked over to where he was, then, completely ignored him, they bent down, looking at somewhere around his feet.

The old man said.

"Test subject number fourteen became unresponsive right after putting on the weapon, and collapsed and started convulsing after two hundred and forty-eight seconds. Subject fourteen was able to maintain standing position for twenty-six more seconds than subject thirteen. Subject fourteen ceased all movements after eighty-six seconds, seven seconds more than subject thirteen."

What?

"He's dead." The girl said. "Still too much."

But he was still here. He was still standing. He was still alive.

"We need to further reduce the ratio of the material." The old man continued as he slowly shook his head.

"We can't. Any less and it would just be a particularly dense piece of jewelry. Eleven didn't demonstrate any special properties."

Wait, Pravin realized. They called him fifteen, right?

He took a look at the clock. It was one hour earlier than it should be.

He looked down again. Now, he could see him. Test subject fourteen. Another young man, with tanned skin and a bald head. He was lying motionless on the ground. His eyes rolled all the way up, his limbs twisted into strange positions, and there was a clear fluid leaking from his nose onto the ground.

Pravin blinked. And found the body had disappeared.

He looked back at the clock again. It was back at the right time.

The door to the room opened again, and once again, the girl and the man stepped through.

Again, they stepped up into the platform, and again, they bent down to look at something at his feet.

He got a sinking feeling about what was happening. He dreaded to look. But he forced himself to.

There, on the ground, in the same place fourteen had fell down, he recognized the familiar features. The same intricate tattoo of a bird type danger beast he had always been so proud of.

He didn't dare to look at the face. He tried to scream, but no sound came out. He tried to run, but his feet were locked in place.

He tried to think, but then, suddenly, a sharp pain struck the back of his skull. And Pravin found the hardness of the metal floor on his back, the pain in his head was so severe now that he could barely think, he could feel his body contorted against his will, every muscle screamed in protest as they're forced to contract beyond their limits.

His last action was trying to look at the clock once again. With the last bit of willpower, he realized that time had turned back a few minutes.

And then, blackness came.

* * *

 _Rebel secret base..._

"The tunnel is completed. We will finally commence with Borick's assassination." Najenda said.

Unlike the meeting a few days earlier, this time, only members of Night Raid were present. Both the otherworldly doctors weren't allowed.

The plan would be to target him at the cathedral, where security wasn't as high as his mansion.

They would split into multiple teams. One would serve as a distraction, drawing Esdeath out while the others sneak in and eliminate their target.

"I don't like this plan." Said the green haired young man. "A head on fight against Esdeath is suicidal."

"We won't take them head on. We'll lead them on a rabbit chase and focus on surviving." The commander replied.

"She's very powerful." The youngest member of Night Raid, Tatsumi said. "It will be extremely risky even if we just try to stall her."

"We don't have any other option. Time is running out, and protecting a target isn't her forte, this is our best chance."

"Excuse me, captain, but I think we _do_ have another option." A voice spoke up for the first times since the meeting started. She would be sitting this mission out, with her condition not fully stable and her Teigu destroyed. But as a member, they would gladly allow her to join regardless.

"And what would that be, Chelsea?"

"It's simple. We just need to poison her."


	7. Chapter 7

1.6.

The Grand Cathedral of Kyoroch was an impressive structure. A massive stone building, adorned with domes and pikes, the kind of domes and pikes one would usually find in religious establishments in many different worlds, surrounded by a vast courtyard. Vast enough for a few platoons of Imperial infantry to deploy there if they needed to protect a person of interest – which, of course, they did.

High chaplain Borick was both an important asset for the Prime Minister in the taking over of the Path of Peace, and, as situations developed, a highly valuable bait to lure out the ever elusive Night Raid. For that reason, the Empire had devoted significant manpower just to follow him wherever he went. Either to snuff out a potential new rebellion, or to capture and remove a thorn that had been in their side for a long time.

Borick, of course, was only made aware of the first objective. He knew Night Raid was after him, but it had been deemed... unnecessary for him to know that his "bodyguards" were more interested in dangling him in front of the sharks.

The courtyard itself was encircled by a series of tall walls and towers. Combined with the mass of followers who frequented the place, and were more than willing to defend their leaders, attacking the cathedral was a risky move.

Still, its nature as a public location meant it was much easier to be infiltrated, and they couldn't set up traps to deter break in attempts, unlike Borick's own residence.

Thus, it made the most sense for Night Raid to act tonight, when Borick would be there for the monthly night prayer, she had deduced, and prepared accordingly.

The plan was simple: Kurome and Esdeath herself would stay close to the target, relying on her superior combat prowess to stop any head-on assault, while the rest of the team would spread out to cover the other angles the assassins could use to blindside them.

Seryu was still badly injured, so she would sit this one out. The girl could stand with help now, but that was about it.

So far, it had been quiet. It was almost midnight, the Path's meeting just concluded without incident, the followers were slowly leaving. Allegedly, they would wait until the sun rose before returning to the relative safety of the mansion, to avoid ambushes; but the bluenette knew, as soon as the crowd cleared the building, the enemies would strike. It was their best chance. And it would be her job to make sure their best was not good enough.

She waited patiently for the shoe to drop. Behind her, Kurome stood, her face was as cheerful as ever, just a few steps away from the High Chaplain himself.

Borick, for what it's worth, was unknowingly playing the part of the bait with great enthusiasm. He had tricked yet another female follower into having a private "praying session" with him, and was chatting her up until they could get some privacy. She was aware that most of her team had a disdain with such vices, Kurome was the only one who didn't care – but again, the girl hardly cared about anything. Whatever, the exploitation of the weak was not her concern, it was just the natural way of things.

So the two Jaegers silently stood guard, amid the raunchy laughs of the man and nervous giggles of the follower maiden. The clock ticked slowly away. The last of the followers had left the compound. High above, Run was soaring on his winged Teigu, looking for infiltration by flying danger beast. Even if he was alone, in that environment, Night Raid's lack of aerial maneuverability would give him a tremendous advantage. The armored warrior, Wave, was looking out from a balcony on one of the upper floors, ready to join force with the troops and Borick's own Teigu user from the Path on the courtyard. And the surviving Rakshasa stayed just outside to cut off their escape path. The trap was set, all that was left was to wait for the rats.

Just as she was wondering what was taking them so long, Esdeath realized something was wrong.

Before she even registered the numbness of her lips when she tried to ask Kurome why their charge fell silent, the general found her legs collapsing under herself. Had the black haired girl not rushed in to catch her fall, she would have smashed face first into the stone floor. Someone had released a poisonous gas inside the Cathedral, she noted, probably by pretending to be one of the followers. Since it was a simple job, it wouldn't take any of the known members of Night Raid, but rather, any random rebel soldier could have done it. And Kurome's drug was protecting her from the effect, just like how it saved her from the assassin's poison.

Kurome was screaming at her, but she couldn't answer. Even her vocal cords were frozen.

Heh. To freeze the Ice woman, she appreciated the irony.

Idly, Esdeath noted that she was still not dead, and while she couldn't consciously move, she was still breathing normally. The poison only prevented voluntary movement, it seemed. They may have chosen this to avoid harming bystanders.

That plan could have worked, had they used something that killed her outright. She should have prepared for this after the mess at Romari. That was an oversight.

However, they hadn't. It was a foolish mistake, and she would show them why.

For her mind was still free. And that was enough.

* * *

 _That was almost cheating_ , he thought as they made their way over the fallen bodies of the Imperial troopers.

Then again, the mad doctor (no, not that one, the other one) did try something similar against them, so turnabout was fair play.

The virus should incapacitate all nearby Empire's forces for at least a few hours. A sudden "thump" made him turn around. Turned out it was just a bat getting too close and fell victim to the infection. The poor thing landed face first onto the helmeted head of a fallen soldier.

Predictably, steel was harder than face. A mess of blood and meaty-bits was running down onto the soldier's face, some got into his eyes, which were widening in helpless terror. He winced, that was nasty. Had they have the time, they could casually kill every enemy soldier here, and they could only watch. But they promised the girl to avoid killing anyone except their targets, and well, _that_ was a bit too much even for Night Raid.

The girl had given them a vaccine for the virus and some other medicines, "in case of emergency."

The next "thump", however, was a lot more threatening than a mere plummeting flying mammal. So were the next dozen. He quickly sidestepped to avoid a bunch of projectiles.

Akame had already drawn her sword, and quickly deflected the storm of feathers being launched at the girls of their group. The ones that hit Tatsumi and Susanoo just pinged off.

Once again, he felt left out. Well, it was not like the feathers were of any challenge. They must lose too much power because of the distance: the white-haired flier was barely visible with how high up he was. Mine fired Pumpkin, but the white winged figure just easily dodged it. Without saying, they all quicken their steps to get inside the main building. It should be safe there, surely not even Esdeath could overcome a weapon created by multi-dimensional abomination from beyond the stars.

As soon as he got inside, a slab of ice knocking him right square in the chest made Lubbock reevaluate his assessment immediately.

* * *

Seven against two, and she could only move by controlling the pieces of ice lining her body.

This fight may actually be fair.

The only complain she had was that she couldn't even talk to Tatsumi.

That, and coordinating with Kurome was significantly hampered.

And tear was filling down her eyes, they were getting dry because she couldn't blink. Impairing her vision aside, Esdeath admitted that the "cool" image she was trying to create by floating in midair was ruined by that.

The opening salvo caught the green headed rebel, but his armor took the brunt of it.

"How can she still move?" The pink-haired screamed, while concurrently fired a shot at her. Dodging required more dexterity than she had at the moment, so instead, the general threw out an ice barrier, which shattered upon impact with the bullet. She seized control of the fragments, turning them into a storm of flechettes. Tatsumi jumped in front of the girl, shielding her; while the horned humanoid swung his mace and blocked most of her attacks before they could hit Najenda. Some got through and punctured him, but his wounds were already closing before the shards even hit the floor.

That must be the biotic Teigu, then.

To her left and right, Akame and the beast woman were trying to rush past her to get Borick. With a thought, she forced them back with a series of long range attacks.

The living Teigu was running straight at her. She summoned forth a blade of ice from the ceiling, impaling it before it could react, only for the thing to rip through its own flesh, and taking a swing at her. The Captain of the Jaegers had to jerk her body backward, barely avoiding the hit.

Behind her, Kurome took a stance and prepared to join the fray. She created another block of ice in front of the girl to signal her to stop. Protecting the target must take priority.

In front of her, Night Raid had fell back, the green head had recovered. They all surrounded her, and were preparing for a new coordinated assault.

 _Yeah_ , the woman thought. _This will be fun_.

* * *

 _Come on... so... close..._ He tried again to no avail. The short blade of Grand Chariot lay _just_ outside of his reach.

He was careless. A second of hesitation as the numbness took his body, and he had lost his grip on the Teigu before he could transform.

 _Come on.._. He had no idea how long ago it had been, but if he didn't hurry up, his teammates would be sitting ducks against Night Raid. He already lost Bols, he wouldn't allow those assassins to touch anyone else!

 _Again..._ He could hear the rumble below. So someone was still fighting. _Kurome..._ Wave thought. She was able to resist their poison, she may have been the only one who was still standing.

The thought of the girl fighting alone against the full force of the enemies sent chill down his spine. He must protect her.

He must. Wave doubled his effort again. He could feel a sensation in his fingertips. Just a little more...

And a hand pressed Grand Chariot into his.

It was cold, hard and mechanical, but the touch was gentle. _Seryu._

The girl fell down on her arm and legs next to him. Her face contorted with pain. She laid herself down on the ground, then blue light flickered and she reappeared in the same place.

"My power..." She paused and flickered again. "It can clear the effect of the poison..." She winced, and flickered. "But it's still in the..." Flickered. "Air... I can't fight like this, go help..."

Wave concentrated on the Teigu in his hand. Immediately, he could feel the armor of Grand Chariot wrapping around him.

He needed to thank Seryu for saving their butts. She must've suffered greatly for this, moving all the way here from the hospital.

If, of course, he could move.

Seryu turned around and took a look at the armored giant, now lying motionless in the exact same position Wave did.

"You have... to be... fucking... kidding me..."

* * *

In hindsight, she should've asked Riley to fix her body before this mission. _Now they will probably need to pay through the nose again for the Tinker to revive her_. Najenda mused as she lay on the ground, trying to breathe.

With the bioweapon, they had expected to meet minimal resistance. She didn't account for the possibility of Esdeath using an ice rig to control her own body.

Triggering Susanoo's third Magatama Manifestation had used up her life force. In exchange, they had finally managed to break past the general and made an attempt on their target.

Emphasis on "attempt."

Esdeath was splitting their group in two now. Leone had gotten her left leg chopped off and was temporarily out of the fight. Ditto for Susanoo: it would take a while for him to regrow his entire body. Tatsumi and Lubbock were fighting the ice woman, while Mine and Akame were fighting Kurome and her corpses.

It was a clusterfuck for both sides. They didn't need to worry about enemy reinforcements: the plague would keep everyone at bay.

But slowly and surely, they were getting an advantage. The two regenerators on their side would recover, and Esdeath was burning her reserves at an unsustainable rate. Her limited mobility was hurting her badly.

If she was stubborn, they may even stand a chance of killing her right here when she exhausted herself.

* * *

Wave ran as fast as he could toward the main chamber, almost tripping over the fallen soldiers in his way.

It took a while for his armor to fight off the poison, but it did. Now, he just hoped that he was not too late.

The noise had stopped a while ago. Which was worrying. Wave just hoped that Kurome was OK. He would be fine with Night Raid killing Borick and successfully withdrawing, if that meant his comrades survived.

Wave burst through the door.

The first thing he saw was Esdeath, she was floating in midair, her face frozen, just like the other victims of the poison. But she was looking down.

Kurome was lying on the ground. She had a deep cut across her legs. But he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her chest rise and fall steadily.

Taking a glance at the surroundings, Night Raid and the girl who was with Borick was nowhere to be found.

The head of the High Chaplain himself lay a few meters away from his body. He paid it no mind as he rushed in to check on the black haired girl.

Wave didn't notice the melting bloody blade of ice lying on the other side of the room.


End file.
